Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A woman has come forward in a dognapping case to say she has also mistaken the pooch for a stray. The plot thickens in the dognapping case involving Goldie as a woman has come forward saying she too has mistook the meandering mutt for a stray. Marilyn, who did not want to give her last name, said she regularly witnesses an elderly man walking some distance away from a little Bichon Frise in the Victoria Park Ave. and Ellesmere Rd. area. “The first time I saw it I thought, oh, this little dog is lost because it was all filthy and wandering along with a long blue leash dragging behind,” Marilyn said. She came forward when she heard a man had been charged for the theft of a dog that sounded eerily similar to her run-ins with the man and his pooch, Marilyn said. John Hildon, 84, reported his eight-year-old dog Goldie stolen last Friday. Hildon said he took Goldie for a walk around 8:15 p.m. and he had let the dog’s leash go as they came to the intersection. Sean Dunkley, 35, said he asked Hildon if the dog was his but the 84-year-old said it wasn’t so Dunkley took the dog home. Toronto Police charged Dunkley at his home on Saturday with theft and possession of stolen property. Goldie was subsequently returned to Hildon by police. “I feel horrible for (Dunkley),” Marilyn said. “I think a lot of people would have done the same thing.” Dunkley came to the Toronto Sun Monday to tell his side of the story after seeing Goldie on the front page of the paper. Dunkley has not yet appeared in court to face the charges.
*The Toronto Sun